1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to capillary electrophoresis apparatuses. Particularly, the present invention relates to a capillary electrophoresis apparatus that separates and analyzes samples, such as DNA or proteins, using a plurality of capillaries, and to a sample tray used in the separation analysis by this electrophoresis apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a capillary electrophoresis apparatus has been used widely in which a capillary is filled with an electrophoresis medium (separation medium), such as a polymer gel or a polymer solution.
A capillary electrophoresis apparatus, as described in, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 2776208), has a high heat dissipation capacity enabling application of a high voltage to a sample as compared with a conventionally used flat-plate electrophoresis apparatus. Accordingly, the capillary electrophoresis apparatus has the advantage of performing electrophoresis at high speed. Moreover, the capillary electrophoresis apparatus has a lot of advantages, such as that a far less amount of sample is required, and that the automated filling of a separation medium and the automated injection of samples are possible, and therefore, it has been utilized in various separation-analysis measurements, such as DNA and protein analyses.
This DNA sequencer includes a mechanism, using a syringe or a pump, capable of automatically filling the capillary with a polymer (separation medium) and automatically injecting the capillary with a sample, and so on. With this mechanism, the separation-analysis measurement of samples can be carried out continuously even without man power, for example in all-night operation.
Incidentally, a sample to be subjected to electrophoresis analysis is usually dispensed in a container while being dissolved in a solvent. For example, when the separation analysis of DNA is to be carried out, the DNA to be analyzed is amplified in advance using an approach, such as PCR (polymerase chain reaction). For this reason, a sample plate for thermal cycler and a sample tube for PCR which have been used in the amplification reaction of DNA by the PCR apparatus are often used subsequently as the sample container also at the time of the separation-analysis measurement of this purified DNA using the capillary electrophoresis apparatus.
Accordingly, when the sample purified by the amplification reaction with the PCR apparatus is measured using the capillary electrophoresis apparatus, there is no need to take the trouble to transfer the sample to another container for this measurement. Thus, the separation-analysis measurement can be conveniently performed using the capillary electrophoresis apparatus on the sample without transferring the sample. Moreover, the attaching of such a sample plate to an adapter as shown in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-324474 A) facilitates automated transport of samples inside the apparatus.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2776208    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-324474 A    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-29814 A    Patent Document 4: JP Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 11-502937 A (1999)    Non-Patent Document 1: “Various kinds of plates and electrophoresis buffers”, Beckman Coulter, Inc., URL: http://www.beckmancoulter.co.jp/product/product01/CEQ_plate.html, [online] searched on June 16, Heisei 20 (2008)